Just say the words
by FanOfAll2017
Summary: Follows "The Play's The Thing" Frustrated at Maxwell's inaction and refusal to say how he feels about her, Fran goes out for a night of clubbing with Val


"You know, you haven't been on a date in a while. It might do you some good to get out for a night," Val reminded Fran as they moved from the kitchen to the living room and settled onto the couch. "I mean, it's not like you've had any better offers right?"

"Well, that ass writer did ask me out," Fran pointed out with a scowl, recalling Clive Henly and his wandering eyes. A lot of men had checked her out, but he made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

"You said that you didn't go out with him," Val said.

Something came up, Fran thought, wanting to tell Val what she had been doing with Maxwell, but at the same time wanting to keep it secret as well. "Well, that's because he was an ass. He made me feel so cheap," Fran stated. She looked at the closed over living room doors. She could see a shadow of someone listening into their conversation. Probably Niles, she thought. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I'll think about it," she said as Maxwell walked into the room, virtually stumbling in through the closed over door.

"Miss Fine, Miss Toriello, nice to see you both," Maxwell said, looking at both of them and attempting to act nonchalant, as if he hadn't been listening in on their conversation. "What are you talking about?"

Fran smiled at him. Like you don't know, she thought, knowing by the way that he was acting that he had been the one listening in on them. "Val and I were talking about going out for a night of fun."

Maxwell looked at her expectantly. He shrugged as if the information was not worth his time.

The silence stretched between the three of them. Fran and Maxwell were looking just beyond the other's ear while Val was sipping from her empty tea cup, waiting for something to happen to break the silence.

"Val, I'll call you later, okay?" Fran said.

"Why? I'm sitting right here," Val said, oblivious.

Fran sighed. "Yeah, but you have to go. You have that thing to go to. We'll meet here Friday night and hit the clubs," she added, nudging Val with a not so subtle elbow.

"Okay, okay," Val said, rising from the seat, placing her cup on the table in front of her. She made her way to the front door and left, muttering under her breath that Fran had better tell her what's going on when they meet up next.

Once she left, Fran leant back on her seat and looked at Maxwell. She crossed her legs just above the knees. She grinned as she saw the way that his eyes fixated upon them. "Did you want me for something?" she asked him, running a finger along the top of her thigh at the edge of her skirt. Might as well tease him a bit, she thought, wondering how he would respond to it, if he would at all.

"Oh, yes, there was something I needed to talk to you about," he said, finally stopping from staring at her legs and looking at her face instead. "Do you think that it is appropriate for you to be going out clubbing with Val at the moment?" he asked her.

"I have Friday night's off, remember," Fran said, keeping her tone light and stopping what she was doing with her hands.

"Yes, given that I am the one who employed you," Maxwell said. Then he sighed and moved to sit next to her. "I just thought that, given what has happened between us lately, that you weren't interested in seeing anyone else." He paused, reaching out to turn her face with his hand, keeping his palm against her cheek, his thumb grazing around the edges of Fran's lips. "I know, since that first night that we shared with each other, I haven't even thought of another person in the same way I am when I think of you."

Fran smiled at him in understanding, wanting to ask him how he thought of her, wanting him to tell her, in explicit detail, exactly how he thought of her. Another time, she thought, feeling her flesh warm at the idea of it. "People are beginning to talk about how housebound I've been. The kids, Niles, Miss Babcock, my mother, even Val is noticing that I haven't been all that interested in going out and meeting someone and they want to know why. For the record, I just want to go out and dance with my friend. I don't want to go home with, or to, anyone else but you," she said. She tipped her head and closed her eyes. "Even the lightest touch from you in an innocent way feels amazing," she added, turning her head slightly and catching the tip of his thumb in her lips. She sucked it lightly and then let it go. She gave him a coy smile.

Maxwell smiled back at her action. "Well, I don't think that either of our intentions towards the other have been exactly innocent, do you? You are constantly driving me insane woman. It is taking all of my energy to resist you," he whispered, pulling his hand from her. He rose from the seat and looked around the living room carefully before leaning down and kissing Fran lightly on the lips, breaking it off as fast as he had started it before either of them could deepen it. "Maybe, on Friday night, I might run into the two of you while you're out and escort you back home," he said, stepping back.

Fran lifted her eyebrows, wondering if he was getting at. "Maybe you will," she said, turning over the situation in her mind as she watched him leave the room for his office just as the front door opened and the kids walked in, talking excitedly about each of their days at school.

Fran picked her clothes carefully for the night out with Val. She slipped on a short, but not scandalously so, dress in deep hunter green. It was tight and fitted around her torso, flaring out slightly at her hips when she twisted. At least I can bend over in this without exposing too much, Fran thought. She wore sheer, thigh high tights that came to a stop just under her skirt. On her feet she wore heels that matched the colour of her dress. She left her hair loose and curled loosely. After a bit of internal debate, she decided to keep her makeup closer to neutral, except for her trademark red lipstick. She heard the doorbell and picked up her small clutch bag that held only what she needed. She reached for the handle and opened her bedroom door, to find Maxwell standing there, waiting for her. She smiled at him and posed in the door frame. "What do you think?" she asked him, indicating her dress.

"It's gorgeous, but then you already knew that," Maxwell said with a smirk as he looked her up and down. He looked behind them and seeing that there was no one in the hallway, he stepped forward, making her step back into the room. Following her in, he closed the door behind him and hit the lock on it. Then he reached for her again, but this time when his lips found hers, it was a hungry, passionate kiss that demanded everything from her. His arms brought her close to his chest, her Breasts pressing against him and coming close to spilling over the top of her dress.

Fran backed further into the room and when the back of her legs hit the side of her bed, she bent back, pulling Maxwell on top of her without breaking the kiss as they hit the bed. Then she pulled her lips from him and looked up at him, expectantly as he moved so that he was propped above her, supporting himself with his arms, his legs between Fran's suddenly open ones. This is new, Fran thought as she waited to see what would happen next, seeing the internal debate coming over his face. Then she shifted a little so that she lightly pushed up against his groin.

Maxwell groaned at the intimateness of their newly assumed position. "You continue to keep me guessing," he whispered as he leant in again to capture her lips with his own for another deep kiss, and moved so that he was pushing his groin closer to hers. One of his hands gently caressed the side of her breast through her dress.

Fran lifted one of her legs to his hip, drawing their lower bodies closer together, and pushing herself against his growing erection, gasping at the new sensations that were pulsing through her. While he kept one hand on her breast, grazing over the top of her cleavage, she felt the other slip under the edge of her skirt and rest on her hips. He began toying with the lace edge of her g string underwear, lifting it and then sliding towards her moist core. Then, before he could actually touch her, he pulled his hand away and repeated the whole process again. She pulled his tucked in shirt from his pants and began to undo some of the lower buttons to give herself something to focus on to keep her from losing her mind as she kept pressing up against him. She hadn't realised how much she wanted him until this moment and she didn't want to orgasm without him. "Don't stop doing that," she whispered to him, lifting her hips to meet him again. "Or keep doing more. I'm almost there," she added, gasping. I haven't come from dry humping since I was seventeen, she realised, somewhat mortified. Then she realised that he wasn't paying much attention to her words.

"Lace top, thigh high stockings and a thong Miss Fine? I do approve," he whispered as he pulled at the lace lightly again. His smile was more of a smirk when he glanced up at her.

"I thought you would be upset about me wearing something like this. After all, it could become quite revealing with a slight breeze," Fran said as she pushed herself up so that she was propped on her elbows and looked up at him.

Maxwell grinned at her. "Only if we stop what we're up to right now. You're driving me insane by rubbing up against me like that," he said, reaching out to cup her face in one of his hands. The other hand was still busy, with a finger running under the string of her underwear, drifting closer to her centre again. This time, he caressed her clit and she moaned between kisses. "You feel so amazing," he added. "It's taking all the control I have not to take you here and now."

"Three words and you can do just that," Fran said, pulling her head back before he could kiss her again.

Maxwell's expression and hand froze. He pulled his hand from under her skirt and he shifted so that he was sitting on the edge of her bed.

Fran rolled over on to her side and looked at him expectantly. "What? Did you really think that if you came in here, trying to stop me from going out by seducing me with your kisses and your wandering hands, that I'd just give in to you after all this time?" she said. "No matter how much I want you, or you want me for that matter, we both deserve more than a rushed moment in my room after everything we've been through. Don't you think that?"

Maxwell turned his face and looked at her. "Fran, of course I do, but," he began, then he looked away again and focused on a spot on the wall on the other side of the room.

"You can't say it," she whispered, hating the way that she sounded so needy. Damn him for making me push like this, she thought.

"You know how I feel," Maxwell told her, looking back at her. "This wouldn't keep happening between us if there wasn't something there to spark it," he added.

"Since Paris I don't know how you could possibly feel. I know that you want me physically, and you know that I want you just as badly," Fran said, watching as he looked away. She shifted so that she was sitting next to him. She reached out and turned his face to her. She kept her hand there so that he couldn't look away from her again.

"Yes, you were very demonstrative of that fact," Maxwell stated. He looked at his groin where his erection was still visibly pressing against his pants. "You weren't the only one," he admitted with a shrug and took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "We didn't have to stop what we were doing. You know as well as I do how good it felt, how good it feels when we're close," he added.

Fran smiled at him. "Yes, we did have to stop." She rose from the bed and put her shoes back on. She straightened the skirt of her dress in attempt to rid it of the new wrinkles.

Maxwell grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto his lap so that she was straddling him. "Just tell me why, please? Why are you holding back like this?" he asked her.

"Max, I'm going out. We can talk later about all that stuff," Fran said, pulling her head back before he could kiss her again. Meanwhile I should get a freaking medal for the amount of control I am showing, she thought. "I'm going out, going to dance with Val and then I'm coming home, alone," she promised him. "I want more than a rushed make out session with you that gets me," she paused, thinking that what she was about to say was almost too crass to say out loud. She wasn't sure how he would respond to it. What if it turns him off to hear such words?

"You want more than heated kisses that gets you as wet as I am hard?" Maxwell whispered, placing a hand behind her neck and kissing her deeply as he pulled her so that they were chest to chest.

Fran shifted so that they were once again pushing their lower bodies against each other. Gasping, she automatically started to run a hand along his belt, reaching the buckle. She felt Maxwell again run his hands up her skirt again and pull her closer to him. I really have to stop this before I lose my self-control, she thought, revelling in the sensations that were rushing through her. Breathless, Fran pulled out of his embrace and tried valiantly to act as if she were annoyed with him. "You messed up my lipstick," she reprimanded him as she turned and peered in the mirror across from the bed. Her lipstick actually wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been. Thank god for stay put lipstick, she thought. Well worth the cash.

"It was so very worth it and something that I wouldn't hesitate to do so again," Maxwell whispered, rising from the bed and coming over to stand beside her. "Do you really have to go out tonight?" he asked her, reaching out to take her hands. "I could tell Val that you're not well, that you have suddenly come down with some sort of food poisoning or the like," he added, drawing her to him again. "I don't want you to go out looking like this, even though I know that you're coming home to me," he said his lips close to her ear as he spoke the words. "You look absolutely amazing in that dress and knowing what you're wearing under it is making me want to see more. Your whole outfit is driving me insane. In fact, even more so with the wrinkles that we've just put into it. It reminds me of the first time I saw you in the Jacuzzi tub, wanton and full of desire and so very ready for me."

Fran felt herself blushing. "Why wouldn't I go?" she finally asked him, smiling a little. She knew he wouldn't tell her what she wanted to hear but something in her just had to keep pushing for it. "Come on Max, tell me why I shouldn't go out tonight. Three words from you is all that it would take for me to cancel my plans."

Maxwell paused again.

"You know, one of these nights, when I go out that door, the promise of more of what's been happening between us won't be enough to make me stay," Fran warned him, letting go of his hands and pulling away from him. "Besides, Niles has already let Val in and she's down there waiting for me. No one will believe that I've suddenly gotten sick," Fran said to Maxwell as she unlocked the bedroom door. She paused and turned back to him. "We'll be at Jewel until, say, eleven," she added. "Val's sweet on one of the barmen there. I could probably convince her to go off on a date with him at some point without too much effort, leaving me alone and waiting for you."

Maxwell nodded. He knew the club she was talking about, not well, but that didn't matter. "I've got something to take care of and then I'll be there."

"Fran, hurry up, we're going to be late," Val called out from downstairs.

"You never know, if you show up tonight, we might be able to pick up where we left just now," Fran offered. "I know I'd be more than willing for that."

Maxwell's smile grew even more at her words. He stepped closer to her, taking her face in his hands and leaning in for another kiss, this one softer than his previous one. "Then, let that keep you warm until I get there," he said, when he pulled away.

Fran looked up as the clock above the bar turned from 10:59 to 11:00, and then went to 11:01 soon after. I really thought that he'd show up, she thought as she looked around the club again, expecting to see Maxwell Sheffield walking towards her. Not seeing him, she turned her attention to where Val was sitting in a booth with Joey, the barman that she had been interested in. Fran smiled, happy for her friend, and her smile grew when she felt someone brush against her closely. About time, she thought as she turned her bar stool so that she was facing the man who had brushed against her, a wide smile on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought that you were someone else," she said, her smile dropping even more in disappointment when she recognised the man standing next to her. Mr Hanley," she greeted the writer.

"You're Max's nanny, right?" he asked. The way that he said the word and looked her body up and down left little to her imagination as to his intentions towards her. "He let you out of the house looking like that?" he asked.

"He knows that he doesn't get a say in anything I wear," Fran shot back, her temper slipping a little.

"That's good. He probably wouldn't dress you in anything as nice as what you select for yourself," Clive stated, his eyes fixated on her cleavage.

Fran clasped her purse in her hand tightly, wishing that she could do something to detract his attention from her body. "We're done here," she said, rising from the stool. She glanced over to Val and saw that her friend was currently very occupied by Joey's lips. She probably won't notice that I'm gone, Fran thought as she stepped away from the bar. She looked down as she felt Clive grasp her upper arm. "Please, let me go," she stated.

"I thought you wanted to get out of here," Clive said. "Let me help you with that," he told her, leaning closer to her.

Fran pulled as far back as she could within his grip before he could try to kiss her. "I'd rather go by myself if the only other option is to go with you. Please, let go of my arm," she said again.

"I believe that the lady asked you to let her go," Maxwell said, his voice coming from behind Fran. "You really should do as she asks you."

"Max, of all the places I thought I'd find you," Clive said, sounding as if he were genuinely amused.

Fran took the moment of distraction to pull her arm from Clive's clammy grip. "You took your time," she whispered at Maxwell. "Where were you?"

"I'll explain later," he told her, his voice low.

"So, what brings Broadway's Least Successful Producer out on a Friday night to a place like this?" Clive asked Maxwell. "You looking for a little action? I wouldn't have thought you had it in you to come to a place like this and find it."

"Personal reasons," Maxwell replied, his tone as cold as Fran had ever heard it. "Miss Fine, I believe Miss Toriello was looking for you," Maxwell added, putting a little more warmth into his voice.

"Are you always so formal with each other?" Clive asked as he paid for his drink. "Or is that only when you are playing for the audience?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Maxwell said.

Fran looked at the writer. What?

"I saw the way that the two of you looked at each other after my play. That was pure lust," Clive said. "I followed the two of you out of the theatre and let's just say it confirmed my suspicions."

Fran bit the inside of her lip to stop it from dropping open. A quick side glance at Maxwell's face confirmed that he was struggling to keep his own expression blank. "What do you mean?" Fran asked the writer.

Clive leant into them both. "I saw the two of you in a heated lip lock that got me hot just watching it." He leered at Fran. "No wonder you don't have time for me when you're letting your boss have his way with you on a regular basis."

"Careful," Maxwell warned Clive.

Clive laughed. "I didn't think you had it in you," he told Maxwell. "From everything that I've heard about you, well, let's just say you were made out to be a lot more repressed when it came to the ladies, a real cold fish."

"You witnessed an intimate moment between me and the woman that I love. Neither of us have anything to be ashamed of," Maxwell said.

Fran felt her mouth drop open. Oh my god. He actually said it. He said the words. Okay, so he didn't say them to me but he said that he loved me out loud in front of a witness. She grabbed Maxwell's hand and pulled him a few steps away. "He isn't worth getting upset about. Let's just go home," she told him.

Maxwell looked at her and his jaw dropped a little as if he was realising that she had heard him admit his feelings for her. "Right," he said. "Clive, I believe our time is up." He took Fran by the hand and turned with her to walk away.

"You really missed out Max. Webber is about to make me an offer that I'd be a fool not to accept," Clive taunted Maxwell.

Maxwell paused. "Then he's a fool to consider making it," he said, leading Fran out of the club without a look back in the writer's direction.

"I'm sorry that I was late meeting you. I had a last minute meeting that I needed to take," Maxwell explained as he led the way to his parked car.

"Must have been really last minute," Fran said, slipping into the car when Maxwell unlocked and opened the door for her. She bit her lip as she watched him close her door and walk around the front of the car. He sat in his seat and put the keys into the ignition. Fran reached over and stayed his hand. "I heard what you said," she told him when he looked at her.

Maxwell smiled. "I'd hate to think that you didn't," he said. He reached over and kissed her softly on the lips. When he pulled away, he looked her directly in the eye. "I love you."

"I know," Fran said. "I loved you too," she added, leaning in for another kiss and then pausing. "Why were you late?" she asked.

"I told you, I had a last minute meeting," Maxwell replied. He kissed her quickly. "With the children," he added when she frowned at him.

"Oh," Fran said, pulling herself from his hand. "Are they okay? Did something happen?" she asked, her heart racing a little as she thought back to the last time she had seen each of them. They had seemed okay then.

Maxwell laughed. "No, they're all fine. Well, better than fine really after I spoke with them," he explained.

"About what?" Fran asked.

"Well, I told them that I was going to be perusing a relationship with you. I gave them an opportunity to tell me how that made them feel," Maxwell explained. He put a finger to Fran's lips to stop her from asking anything. "They were okay with it. In fact, their heartfelt cheering almost deafened me. Which was nothing compared to the reaction that Niles had over the intercom that he was listening in on."

Fran felt her mouth drop open as she looked at him. "Really?" she asked him, feeling in awe.

"When you left tonight, I was on the verge of booking a room somewhere, following you and taking you there before you even walked into that club and finishing off what we started in your room earlier," Maxwell began, running a hand on her cheek.

"Now?" Fran asked.

"Well, I think that answer to that should be obvious," Maxwell replied as he started the car and pulled out of the car park.

As he drove, Fran studied his face. It wasn't close to being obvious. Part of her hoped that he was taking her to that motel room. When he pulled the car up at the front door to their well lit home and turned off the engine, Fran finally asked him what was going on.

Maxwell grinned. "Well, I thought we'd go in, and have a long overdue discussion," he told her.

"About what?"

"About why it was so important for me to tell you how I felt," Maxwell said. "You promised me that we'd talk when we got home."

"And then?" Fran asked him, wishing that he had forgotten about that comment she had made earlier.

Maxwell got out of the car and walked around to open the door for Fran to get out. Then, before they walked to the front door, Maxwell grabbed her by the hips and kissed her again, putting everything into the kiss. "And then, you and I will finish what we started," he promised her when they broke apart.


End file.
